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Elusive and Difficult - Peace in the Middle East, page 2
by S.K.
In place
Our trip from the airport to Jerusalem took us through parts of the West Bank with a stop at a checkpoint guarded by soldiers. We had to pass these kinds of checkpoints frequently throughout the trip. In Jerusalem we were accommodated in a first class hotel near the center of the city, which left nothing to be desired.
The program consisted of tours to holy sites, historical locations, the Dead Sea – all the usual tourist spots. It was an interesting experience for me to for the first time walk in the footsteps of so many historical figures who had visited these lands as pilgrims in the past – not to mention the founders and standard bearers of Christianity, Peter, John the Baptist and, of course, Jesus Christ himself.
But we did also visit locations that are holy to Muslims and where non-believers, including Christians and Jews, are normally not allowed to enter. Sun Myung Moon, the ultimate person behind this initiative, seems to enjoy extraordinary respect among a rather diverse group of people. Most people here call him Father Moon, a name which seems to be well known.
It was impressive to see representatives of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim religions cooperating on a solution of the age old crisis in this historically central part of the world. Seeing a Muslim imam translate for a Christian minister who spoke Arabic was such a feat - certainly effective marketing but impressive nevertheless.
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